The little mockingjay ch 1
by katniss pond
Summary: The truth about Rue. All will become clear in later stories...
1. Chapter 1

I leap on to the next branch. As my fingers find the handhold, I see the white flash of the flag in the distance. Quitting time. I open my mouth and sing the four note tune I know so well. Five seconds later the mockingjays echo it, bouncing it around the orchard. My job done, I leap from the tree, my basket full of various greens, and run through the empting orchard, hair flying. I empty my basket into the huge container and toss it into the pile behind me. Following the crowd, I walk until the huge mass of people in my district dwindle to the few with the furthest homes checking that no one is looking, I climb the huge oak tree in the alley near my home. I jump from tree to tree to tree, with only the softest rustle of leaves. I've done this since I could barely walk; used to scare my mother to death, always worried I would fall. And I did, several times, but I've learnt so well I can even conceal the rustling now. As I climb down from the last tree, I hear a familiar voice behind me. "Hi Rue." Whispers the voice. "Hi Midnight ." I say, turning around.

"Are you ok?" she asks, seeing the fear in my eyes, how I'm standing on my toes as if I can fly away at any moment. But I have every reason to be afraid. Tomorrow is the reaping. Worry dances in her own eyes for a second, and then she hugs me. Midnight is four years older than me and has been like a sister to me since Mother died. She has been feeding her and her brothers Barley and Thresh for years and she found me by chance a few years ago.

I had come to the meadow to find food. Tentatively, I had stepped into a thick clump of bushes, collecting the roots and berries I could find when I heard a loud shot, echoing like a thunderbolt. I stood, paralyzed with fear, when a pair of hands pulled me into a tree. I tried to scream, deciding being murdered by some mysterious bandit was worse than a quick bullet through the brain from a peacekeeper, the hands clamped around my mouth. "Why didn't you hide? We could have died! Don't you know they would shoot us on the spot!" whispered the person. I saw the dark brown braid, the matching eyes, the skin that would never tan except in hottest of heat, and I knew I was safe. I had seen midnight at school she was always surrounded by a huge group of merchant and older girls. She would often shoot me a smile. Our school held a competition to keep our climbing in check. After all we needed it; we would be whipped if we didn't collect enough fruit at harvest. They had tied a rag to the top of the great oak in the town square and the first to get it would win a handful of extra grain at lunch. I entered, planning to give the grain to Barley, who had just started working and was forever exhausted. In the end it was me and Midnight, scrambling neck and neck, until she lost her footing for a second, and I had won. She had been amazed at my skill and, when I told her what it was for, my kindness. In the end we became good friends, foraging together. She was handy with a slingshot and taught me to hunt. I showed her how to whistle to the mockingjays.

As we hunt now, the same blissful atmosphere as always. We bring down some groosling, collect a mountain of greens, and are about to go home when the shot echoes, just like years ago, and we run. As we run, she catches herself on one of the snares set up to catch us. I freak out, "Midnight!"

"I'm fine, run!"

"No!" I scream and run back to help her. We finally untangle her leg, but it is bleeding heavily. We run nonetheless, me supporting her. We don't stop until we are at her house. There Thresh stands patently. "peacekeeper's… snare," I gasp breathlessly.

"Thank you," he says, coming over to support her.

"See you later. Good luck!" she calls her face screwing up in pain as she goes into their tiny shack.


	2. Chapter 2

When I get home, I'm greeted with the joyful cries of "Rue!" and "Did you get a groosling?" as my siblings cascade over me. father follows beaming brightly. Home. The thought that this cold be my last night here makes me want to weep as if I was still as old as little Oaky ,my two year old brother. My pain reflects in their faces, but I made them promise not to cry when the day came, not until it was all over. Then we could celebrate if I was safe. Hoping for the best, we save the best of the food in hope of a celebration. After a relatively quiet dinner I sit outside, watching the sunset, waiting for the peacekeepers to come with the initial reaping result and to tell us its "lights out" and they want us inside. Our district is too big to fit into the town so they reap us initially down to 900 or so who attend the actual reaping. If you get picked the odds are already not in your favour, so that scares me just as much as the real reaping. I rise onto my toes, as I always do when I'm nervous. Mother used to say it looks as if I could fly away at any moment and be free, living amidst the mockingjays. I am miles away from freedom at the moment. "Rue?" its Willow, my oldest little sister, who despite her soft voice makes me jump, because of her silent tread. Lilly and the twins, Basil and Juniper stop playing for a second to see what we are doing.

"What will we do if you get picked?"

"You will be ok, midnight will look after you. And me, well, remember what father said; if they can't catch you they can't kill you so I'll be fine too." The words are more for my own comfort than hers but she cheers up slightly nonetheless. "But what if I get picked too after you go? I mean what do I …"

"Willow, you're eight, don't worry about that now. Look here they come." The peacekeeper come towards us, here to free me of stress or doom me to a sleepless night.

"Rue Summerfield?"

I nod wordlessly.

"You're in The Reaping."


End file.
